Former coach pleads guilty to molestation

A former volunteer wrestling coach at Westview High School in Rancho Peñasquitos admitted Friday that he inappropriately touched a 15-year-old girl earlier this year, and that he did so with “sexual intent.”

Ryan Paul Carnell, 29, of Rancho Bernardo pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child who was more than 10 years younger than he.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen accepted the plea and scheduled a June 4 sentencing hearing.

Carnell has a separate case in which he pleaded no contest to sending harmful matter — a photo of his genitals — to a minor. He faces a maximum total sentence of three years and eight months in prison on both cases, the judge said.

In the most recent case, police have said the victim was a student at the school, but the offense did not occur on school grounds. Authorities began investigating the matter after the girl came forward in November.

Carnell was originally charged with rape by foreign object, sexual battery, committing a lewd act on a child age 15, false imprisonment and attempting to dissuade a witness. If he had been convicted of those charges, he could have been sentenced to more than nine years in prison.

Poway Unified School District officials have said Carnell coached at Westview from November 2007 until March. He was not a member of the regular faculty or staff.